898 A Monograph of the Indian and [No. 130. 



it is very doubtful whether they would prove to be of as much prac- 

 tical utility. 



The species of Indian Cuculidce are rather numerous, and to these 

 I shall first invite the attention of our zoologists, commencing with 

 those members of restricted Cuculus, which, like the included 

 European Cuckoo, have short and half- feathered tarsi — alone a suffi- 

 cient indication of this particular group. 



In the European species of this genus, the sexes are usually similar, 

 though the female has generally some trace of barred markings on the 

 sides of the neck, which are likewise present in a few of the young 

 males of the preceding season, while they are absent in some old 

 females ; but I have seen one instance, and heard of others, wherein 

 the adult (presumed) female of Cuculus canorus has been entirely 

 clad in a barred livery, quite different from that of the young, and cor- 

 responding to the garb which seems to be the ordinary one of certain 

 of its allied Indian congeners, in which state it has been described as a 

 separate species by the name of C. hepaticus. A specimen of this kind 

 has been noticed by my friend Mr. Thompson of Belfast, in the ' Pro- 

 ceedings of the Zoological Society' for 1834, p. 29 ; it was killed at the 

 end of May, as was likewise that which fell under my observation; 

 and it seems probable that the converse occasionally obtains with 

 certain of the Indian species, some females of which may resemble the 

 mature males in plumage, while perhaps the latter in some instances, 

 at least on casting their first or nestling feathers, may assume a dress 

 resembling what in them is the ordinary one of the other sex ; this 

 remains to be certified by actual observation. 



At least five species of typical Cuculus inhabit this country, two of 

 them being characterised by having a shorter and less graduated tail, 

 and markings on the under-parts, which, as observed by Mr. Jerdon 

 in the instance of one of them, have the same character as those of 

 the Hawks, being longitudinal in the young bird, and becoming 

 transverse with age : such are — 



1. C. sparverioides, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1831, p. 173, — Gould's Centu- 

 ary, pi. LIIL* (Accipitrine Cuckoo.) Length about fifteen inches; 



* Probably also the "Ferruginous-necked Cuckoo" of Latham, Gen. Hist. III., 

 269, though differing in the colour of the bill and feet, and in having the wings of 

 ordinary length. 



